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Tertiary sports development center of PSC-CHEd partnership

WITH the common vision of growing sports development at the tertiary level in the country, the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) recently forged a partnership to collaborate on various programs.

The memorandum of agreement (MOA) on the development of tertiary sports was made formal in a signing ceremony held on Wednesday at the CHEd Auditorium in Diliman, Quezon City, with officials of both agencies expressing hope that it will be the start of more productive efforts between the groups moving forward.

“I am so happy for this new forged partnership with CHEd. They have been a brother to the PSC because as a small agency, we cannot be effective and succeed without the help of other agencies,” said PSC Chairman William Ramirez during the signing ceremony.

“This gives us the missing link in providing a professional development in continuous sports education…” he added.

Among the objectives of the MOA is to maximize the engagement and collaboration of both parties in the formulation of a unified tertiary school sports development program to ensure that the Higher Education Institution’s Sports Development Plans are aligned with the national agenda and of the highest international standards.

PSC and CHEd also commit to work hand in hand in providing training for student-athletes, coaches and sports officials on Higher Education through Professional Development and continuing education to ensure that the highest coaching and training skills will be provided to tertiary athletes as the country strives to produce elite athletes for world-class performances.

In addition, the ongoing National Sports Coaching Certification Course will now fall under this partnership, effectively institutionalizing this continuing education initiative of the PSC.

For CHEd Chairman J. Prospero de Vera III, the partnership is a welcome development considering how it will allow both parties to effectively collaborate on various programs, which proved to be tricky in the past, he admitted, as the agencies had their own procedures on going about things.

“We welcome this memorandum of agreement as it will allow us to join forces with the PSC in joint projects that we can initiate. We commit the support of CHEd in all the undertakings on higher education sports development and wellness,” said Mr. De Vera.

Also present at the MOA signing ceremony were PSC Commissioner Celia Kiram, and Chief of Staff and PSI National Training Director Marc Velasco. For the CHEd side were CHEd Office of the Executive Director OIC Atty. Ryan Estevez and Office of the Deputy Executive Director OIC Atty. Lily Milla.

The PSC said the MOA will be discussed in the ongoing National Sports Summit 2021. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

PSG bury Barcelona demons to reach last eight

PARIS — Paris St. Germain buried the ghosts of their embarrassing 2017 exit as they drew 1-1 at home with Barcelona on Wednesday to complete a 5-2 aggregate victory that sent them into the Champions League quarter-finals.

Four years after Barça claimed a memorable 6-1 win to overturn a 4-0 first-leg deficit in the last 16, PSG lacked inspiration but their 4-1 advantage from the first game in Spain was sufficient this time.

Kylian Mbappé, who scored a hat-trick at the Nou Camp, opened the scoring with a penalty against the run of play before Lionel Messi levelled with a superb long-range goal, but the Argentine had a spot-kick saved by Keylor Navas on the stroke of half time.

The French champions were on the back foot in the second half as Barça piled on the pressure, but Barça exited the competition before the semi-finals for the second year in a row.

Barça’s exit ensured it will be the first time since 2005 that neither Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo will be in the Champions League quarterfinals after Juventus were also knocked out in the last 16 on Tuesday.

“We suffered a lot in the first half, and psychologically it was a test for us. I gathered that the past was something that was talked about a lot here,” PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino said.

“We were better in the second half, we were more competitive.”

Barça coach Ronald Koeman tried to remain upbeat.

“We are departing this Champions League in a very different manner from the way we did last season. In this game, we hit our level and that’s the road we have to follow,” said Koeman, referring to the team’s 8-2 aggregate defeat in the quarterfinals by Bayern Munich last year.

PSG, without injured forward Neymar, looked nothing like the team who reached last year’s final or hammered Barcelona three weeks ago, but they did keep their composure at the back.

Barcelona stamped their authority early on, finding space for Ousmane Dembélé, but the Frenchman was twice denied by Navas and he skied an effort over the crossbar in the opening 20 minutes.

Sergino Dest went close for Barça with a powerful angled shot that Navas deflected on to his left-hand post and Dembélé broke down the left flank, but his cross just evaded a sliding Messi.

It was PSG, however, who went ahead on 31 minutes as Mbappé converted a penalty awarded following a VAR review after Clement Lenglet appeared to step onto Mauro Icardi’s heel.

Six minutes later, Messi unleashed a 25-meter missile that flew into the top corner to equalize in style with his 120th goal in the Champions League.

The Argentine had a chance to put the visitors in front just before the break when Barça won a penalty following a Layvin Kurzawa foul on Antoine Griezmann, but Navas deflected the Argentine’s spot-kick onto the bar and away.

Barça were still all over PSG in the second half and it took a desperate tackle by Marquinhos to prevent Messi scoring from point blank range before Navas cleared a Sergio Busquets header.

Barcelona gradually ran out of steam, however, and must now turn to their bid to win the La Liga title, where they trail leaders Atletico Madrid by six points. — Reuters

Luka Dončić’s triple-double propels Mavs past Spurs

LUKA Dončić scored 22 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and distributed 12 assists as the Dallas Mavericks earned a 115-104 win over the visiting San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday in the first game after the All-Star break for both teams.

The triple-double was Dončić’s eighth of the season and the 33rd of his career. Kristaps Porziņģis added 28 points and 14 rebounds for the Mavericks, who have won four games in a row and 11 of their past 14.

Josh Richardson scored 12 points for Dallas while Maxi Kleber had 11 and Willie Cauley-Stein added 10 points.

DeMar DeRozan led all scorers with 30 points and added 11 assists for San Antonio. Patty Mills hit for 14 points, Rudy Gay added 13, Lonnie Walker IV and Keldon Johnson tallied 12 each and Dejounte Murray contributed 11.

The Spurs missed 11 consecutive shots in the final eight minutes before getting a garbage-time bucket.

The game was tied at 95 after two free throws by San Antonio’s Derrick White with 7:56 to play. The Mavericks ran off the next seven points, with Porzingis scoring on the dunk and then a 3-pointer to cap the run, and the Spurs never threatened again.

The first half went back and forth, with seven ties and seven lead changes before San Antonio took a 59-52 lead to the break. DeRozan led all scorers with 14 points in the half while Gay, in his first game back after missing three weeks due to COVID-19 protocols, pouring in 11 off the San Antonio bench.

Cauley-Stein paced the Mavericks with just eight points at half time. Dallas had 12 first-half turnovers that led to 10 points for the Spurs.

The third quarter had four more ties and five more lead changes before the Mavericks took an 87-86 advantage to the final 12 minutes. Doncic scored 11 points in the period for Dallas.

The Spurs announced before the game that LaMarcus Aldridge was not with the team after both parties decided to part ways.

Aldridge, a seven-time All-Star in his 15th year in the league, had missed eight of San Antonio’s previous 11 games with a hip injury and then a stomach ailment. He is on the final year of a contract that pays him $24 million annually. — Reuters

MVP race

The All-Star break has led to a relative dearth of news on the pro hoops front. Naturally, discussions in the absence of relevant updates have focused on the race for the Most Valuable Player award. Terming the process a “race” is, to be sure, erroneous at best. Even though speculation from all and sundry on the award is fueled from the get-go (and even before the season starts), the more proper assessment is done just before a given campaign ends. No supposed frontrunner gets a leg up early on, and any so-called lead is immediately erased in the face of narrative-driven perspectives.

Take, for example, Luka Dončić’s status as preseason favorite for the accolade. Once competition actually got under way, he wound up being on the fringes of pundits’ supposedly legitimate candidates’ lists, his outstanding efforts pulled down by the Mavericks’ underwhelming slate. Meanwhile, LeBron James’ own run gained enough momentum to install him as the seeming pacesetter; following fellow All-Star Anthony Davis’ sidelining due to injury, however, he found himself hard-pressed to keep the Lakers at the top of standings. They took him down in their ensuing tumble, and Las Vegas oddsmakers now peg him second.

Provisionally, the distinction of having the best vantage point on the Maurice Podoloff Trophy belongs to Joel Embiid, whose traditional and advanced stats underscore how much of a leap he has made under new head coach Doc Rivers. Needless to say, his position is owed in large part to the Sixers’ ascendancy in the East — again fueling the notion that team results should go hand in hand with personal advancement. It’s also why Nikola Jokić’s own bid for the hard has been stunted; the Nuggets have been on a roller-coaster ride from the outset.

Interestingly, Giannis Antetokounmpo has all but been written off for the award, never mind that it remains his to defend, and that his production hasn’t really tapered off. Again, narratives play a big part in shaping and framing voters’ minds. Which, in the final analysis, boils down to this: The “race,” if that, is a marathon, not a sprint, and one that is best viewed close to the end. Anything before falls in the realm of conjecture, good only to while the time away when there is practically nothing else to consider.

 

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.

Startup monitors electricity consumption, helps users to improve energy efficiency

SmarterMeter, a platform that monitors electricity consumption via Wi-Fi, allows consumers to track their usage prior to receiving their official bill. The collected data—said to be 96% to 99% accurate—can be used to double-check kilowatt-hour (kWh) readings from an electricity provider.

Founded in May 2019 as a spinoff project from an electronics engineering undergraduate thesis, it consists of an electricity meter installed onto a household circuit panel and an electricity management platform capable of comparing consumption results, generating user-friendly charts, and sending notifications when a user is about to exceed a set electricity budget. 

 A performance report is also sent via e-mail every other week, along with feedback aimed at  improving energy efficiency. 

“We believe that real energy efficiency comes from a community of informed smarter consumers,” said Reinelle Jan C. Bugnot, founder and CEO of SmarterMeter Inc.

“We plan to partner with condominiums, housing developers, or subdivisions to launch multiple SmarterMeter units at scale to produce localized communities of Smarter consumers, which then yields a culture of energy efficiency,” he added.

SmarterMeter won the Blue Legacy Innovation competition last year, which provided the company enough funding to have it incorporated in the Securities and Exchange Commission in November 2020.

Three- to 12-month subscription plans, starting at P375 per month, are available. A bond fee is collected at the start of subscription as insurance for the device installed in the subscriber’s home, which will be returned in full upon device retrieval at the end of subscription. 

SmarterMeter participated in QBO Innovation Hub’s incubation program. Launched in 2020 in partnership with the US Embassy in the Philippines, the program provides financial support in the form of grants, loans, and fundraising opportunities, and mentorship to startups. — Patricia B. Mirasol

Philippines reports largest daily rise in COVID-19 cases in nearly six months

MANILA – The Philippines’ health ministry on Thursday recorded 3,749 new coronavirus infections, the highest daily increase in cases in nearly six months, and 63 additional deaths.

In a bulletin, the ministry said total confirmed cases had increased to 607,048 while confirmed deaths reached 12,608. Authorities have warned the public not to be complacent and practice physical distancing to avoid the spread of the virus accelerating further. — Reuters 

Vimeo reviewing use of its platform by Myanmar military-controlled TV network

SINGAPORE – U.S. video sharing platform Vimeo said on Thursday it is reviewing a channel by Myanmar military-controlled television network MRTV created in the wake of bans by Facebook and Youtube.

The move comes as activists call upon technology firms including IAC-owned Vimeo to restrict the Myanmar army from access to their services after dozens of deaths during weeks of protests against the military’s seizure of power.

“The videos in question are under review by our Trust & Safety team,” a Vimeo spokeswoman said in response to a Reuters question. She noted the platform’s “chief” principle is that it does not allow the upload of content that can cause real-life harm. “If they are determined to violate any of our guidelines, we will take the appropriate action of removing the videos and potentially terminating the account.” Since it was created in March, the MRTV (Myanma Radio and Television) Vimeo channel has posted 141 news bulletins, including many announcements by the military leadership.

Neither MRTV or a spokesman for the army immediately responded to requests for comment.

Google-owned Youtube removed a channel from MRTV on Friday, while Facebook banned MRTV pages in February.

The army seized power on Feb. 1, alleging mass fraud in the November election won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s government, and has used state media to make its case. The electoral commission has rejected claims of widespread fraud.

More than 60 protesters have been killed and 1,900 people have been arrested since the coup, an advocacy group said. – Reuters

At least 10 hacking groups using Microsoft software flaw – researchers

WASHINGTON – At least 10 different hacking groups are using recently discovered flaws in Microsoft Corp’s mail server software to break in to targets around the world, cybersecurity company ESET said in a blog post on Wednesday.

The breadth of the exploitation adds to the urgency of the warnings being issued by authorities in the United States and Europe about the weaknesses found in Microsoft’s Exchange software.

The security holes in the widely used mail and calendaring solution leave the door open to industrial-scale cyber espionage, allowing malicious actors to steal emails virtually at will from vulnerable servers or move elsewhere in the network. Tens of thousands of organizations have already been compromised, Reuters reported last week, and new victims are being made public daily.

Earlier on Wednesday, for example, Norway’s parliament announced data had been “extracted” in a breach linked to the Microsoft flaws. Germany’s cybersecurity watchdog agency also said on Wednesday two federal authorities had been affected by the hack, although it declined to identify them.

While Microsoft has issued fixes, the sluggish pace of many customers’ updates – which experts attribute in part to the complexity of Exchange’s architecture – means the field remains at least partially open to hackers of all stripes. The patches do not remove any back door access that has already been left on the machines.

In addition, some of the back doors left on compromised machines have passwords that are easily guessed, so that newcomers can take them over.

Microsoft declined comment on the pace of customers’ updates. In previous announcements pertaining to the flaws, the company has emphasized the importance of “patching all affected systems immediately.”

Although the hacking has appeared to be focused on cyber espionage, experts are concerned about the prospect of ransom-seeking cybercriminals taking advantage of the flaws because it could lead to widespread disruption.

ESET’s blog post said there were already signs of cybercriminal exploitation, with one group that specializes in stealing computer resources to mine cryptocurrency breaking in to previously vulnerable Exchange servers to spread its malicious software.

ESET named nine other espionage-focused groups it said were taking advantage of the flaws to break in to targeted networks – several of which other researchers have tied to China. Microsoft has blamed the hack on China. The Chinese government denies any role.

Intriguingly, several of the groups appeared to know about the vulnerability before it was announced by Microsoft on March 2.

Ben Read, a director with cybersecurity company FireEye Inc , said he could not confirm the exact details in the ESET post but said his company had also seen “multiple likely-China groups” using the Microsoft flaws in different waves.

ESET researcher Matthieu Faou said in an email it was “very uncommon” for so many different cyber espionage groups to have access to the same information before it is made public.

He speculated that either the information “somehow leaked” ahead of the Microsoft announcement or it was found by a third party that supplies vulnerability information to cyber spies.

Taiwan-based researchers reported to Microsoft on Jan. 5 that they had found two new flaws which need patching. Those two were among those that began being used by the attackers shortly before or after the friendly report.

They said were investigating whether there had been a theft or leak on their side, since exploitation was discovered in the wild the same week later. So far, the group called Devcore said, they had found no evidence.

Top-flight hackers are also commonly targeted by other hackers. Just this week, Microsoft patched one of the flaws used by suspected North Koreans in attempts to steal information from Western researchers.

But simultaneous discovery happens fairly often, in part because researchers use the same or similar tools to hunt for serious flaws, and many eyes are looking at the same high-value targets.

“It is very likely that some actor groups may have being using these vulnerabilities and led to the result of the attacks being observed by other information security vendors,” Devcore member Bowen Hsu told Reuters.

But the security industry has been abuzz with other theories, including a hack of Microsoft’s systems for tracking bugs, which has happened in the past. – Reuters

The need for women’s support groups in the workplace

Support groups—where members can talk about similar concerns without being judged, blamed, stigmatized, or isolated—play an important role in the well-being of women in the workplace, said Dr. Gia Grace B. Sison, an occupational medicine and mental health expert. 

“During this time, it is crucial to create an accepting environment,” said Dr. Sison, at an International Women’s Month event organized by business process solutions provider Telus International Philippines (TIP). “Understanding and empathizing with what women like you may be going through contributes to you feeling lighter and supported. This can already spark the meaningful connections that people crave as we have to be socially distant for now.” 

Women are more likely than men to experience symptoms of depression, according to the US National Center for Health Statistics in September 2020. The factors that affect women’s mental health include gender-based economic imbalance (such as the glass ceiling, or the intangible barrier within a hierarchy that prevents women or minorities from obtaining upper-level positions) and an imbalance of reproductive or domestic work distribution. 

“A support group is not there to solve problems, but to encourage members to own their narratives and veer away from the victim side,” Dr. Sison said. “I cannot [emphasize enough] the need of support groups for females, because their concerns are different from males.” 

Effective support groups have ground rules, she added, such as beginning and ending meetings on time, and respecting everyone’s privacy. “Back it up with company policy so there’s an anchor,” she said.

TIP, for example, created a resource group to support the professional and personal development of its female team members. Called Connections Women’s Network, the group conducts wellness workshops on topics such as breast cancer awareness, domestic violence, and family budgeting. 

“The best way to be of support is to listen,” Dr. Sison said at the virtual event. “Avoid comparing your journey to others. We journey in different ways.” — Patricia B. Mirasol

Rich, developing nations wrangle over COVID vaccine patents

GENEVA – Richer members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) blocked a push by over 80 developing countries on Wednesday to waive patent rights in an effort to boost production of COVID-19 vaccines for poor nations.

South Africa and India renewed their bid to waive rules of the WTO’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) agreement, a move that could allow generic or other manufacturers to make more vaccines.

South Africa argued the current TRIPS system does not work, pointing to the failure to secure life-saving medicines during the HIV/AIDS pandemic that had cost at least 11 million African lives.

Medecins Sans Frontieres in October put together a letter signed by over 375 civil society organisations supporting the waiver.

The South Africa and India proposal was backed by dozens of largely developing countries at the WTO, but opposed by Western countries, including Britain, Switzerland, EU nations and the United States, which have large domestic pharmaceutical industries.

India is a major manufacturer of generics, although many of the largest generic companies are based in Western and developed countries, including Viatris, Sandoz and Teva.

Western nations argue protecting intellectual property rights encouraged research and innovation and that suspending those rights would not result in a sudden surge of vaccine supply.

In its eighth discussion on the topic since it was first raised in October, the WTO’s TRIPS Council spent three hours debating, but failed to agree. Proposals need backing by a consensus of the WTO’s 164 members to pass.

They did at least agree to discuss the matter twice again in April before the next scheduled TRIPS Council meeting on June 8-9.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who became WTO director-general on March 1, called the intensifying TRIPS discussions “vitally important,” but said governments and businesses needed to act now to increase production, especially in emerging markets.

She said in a speech on Tuesday that manufacturers should come together with bodies such as the World Health Organization and vaccines alliance GAVI, whose board she used to chair, and business associations to look into options.

“We must make sure that in the end we deliver so that the millions of people who are waiting for us with bated breath know that we are working on concrete solutions,” the former Nigerian finance and foreign minister said.

Philippines’ SMBs score lowest in APAC for work-from-home preparedness

This, and other SMB technology insights revealed in IDC survey commissioned by ASUS

ASUS revealed that only 60% of Philippine businesses believed they were ready for the work-from-home (WFH) requirement brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, which is the lowest across the Asia-Pacific markets sampled.

82% of employers stated they believed they already offered a WFH policy; however, only 66% of employees agreed that such a policy was in existence; and only 59% of business owners are actively supporting WFH.

These findings, among other interesting strategic insights to SMB technology use and how COVID-19 has affected related decisions, were revealed in an ASUS-commissioned, independent survey conducted by leading technology research firm, IDC.

Survey methodology

The “IDC Asia/Pacific Laptops and Workspace Trends Survey 2020” was conducted in mid-2020 in 10 countries across Asia-Pacific, including the Philippines. The survey sought to discover the challenges of remote working and the impact on SMBs’ provisioning of laptops and other work devices and involved 2,018 respondents across the Asia-Pacific, split equally between employers (IT decision makers) and employees who use laptops for work.

Asia-Pacific SMBs not ready for long-term remote working arrangements

At the Asia-Pacific level, the survey reveals that businesses are not attuned to the “work-anywhere” trend brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. On average, only 28% of business owners in Asia-Pacific expect employees to continue working remotely post COVID-19, with almost 40% anticipating a return to office. This short-term focus highlights the challenges that remote working entails — particularly around security, operational, collaboration, communication, and productivity issues. But this also means that businesses are not supporting their employees fully with the right devices for a prolonged work-from-home (WFH) setup. IDC stated that this short-term orientation will have a significant impact on the devices that are being purchased now and in future, with a profound, negative effect on employee productivity

Key Filipino findings

For the Philippines in particular, the survey found that prior to the pandemic, the market had a strong office-based culture. With COVID-19, WFH is likely to leave a deeper imprint in the Philippines than many other markets due to the need and desire to continue with remote working. However, infrastructure-related challenges unique to the Philippines like poorer-than-APAC-average-connectivity is a key obstacle.

Other key Filipino SMB findings from the survey include:

  • 66% of SMBs cited reliable network connectivity as a concern when supporting remote working.
  • Most businesses only refresh their laptops 3 years or longer. This means they are stuck with older models which actually increase business costs.
  • A large majority or 80% of Filipino SMBs provide their employees standard devices.
  • This contrasts with 68% of employees wanting to have a say in the allotment of their devices.
  • The Philippine market is among the top three in APAC that has a heavy focus on smartphones. Forward-thinking organizations are already planning to make additional technology investments in the next 24 months — 71% of businesses plan to increase their laptop investments by 2022.
  • Two-thirds, or 66%, of business owners surveyed in the Philippines are considering procuring laptop/desktop under a lease model, marginally lower than the Asia-Pacific average of 70%.
  • 79% of organizations in the Philippines use a laptop for web conferencing with a built-in camera and microphone, as compared to 74% in Asia-Pacific.

IDC advice

Considering the survey findings, IDC recommends that equipping employees with the latest devices that can support both a remote and hybrid work environment will have a significant impact not only on employee productivity and experience, but also will provide a competitive edge to organizations to attract and retain talent. To effectively transition to a hybrid work model and keep pace with remote working requirements, IDC recommends the following:

  1. Ensure employees have the right tools to do their job — Doing away with a one-size-fits-all strategy and adopting a more personalized approach to computing by offering employees the laptop of their choice, or based on computing needs, will help improve productivity and efficiency.
  2. Refresh laptops faster for better employee experience — Shorten refresh cycles of laptops to keep in step with work force requirements, as well as boost employee productivity and efficiency.
  3. Include laptops in as-a-service agreements — Give employees their choice in devices and move away from inflexible standardization policies. As-a-service model can also provide easy access to features previously found only in enterprise-grade, custom-developed devices.

ASUS means business

ASUS is dedicated to solving the unique challenges facing today’s small and medium businesses. ASUS wants to help SMBs and enterprise unlock innovation for customer and employee-centric experiences, as well as broadly upskill talent with a comprehensive product portfolio that includes laptops, desktops, AiO PCs, Chromebooks, and software to rebound from the pandemic and prepare for the future. To know more about their offering visit www.asus.com/ph/Business/ or send them a message at ASUS For Business (Philippines) Facebook Page.

Link to survey

• For further details, download the full IDC Info Brief here: 

Https://bit.ly/ASUS-IDC-APAC-SURVEY (case sensitive)

• We welcome media to report on any other finding that is of interest.

Trading drops as PSE halts high flying Abra Mining stock

Daily trading in Philippine equities, Asia-Pacific’s second-worst performer this year with a 4.6% loss, has plunged from a record after the bourse suspended its most active stock — Abra Mining & Industrial Corp.

Shares of unprofitable Abra Mining were suspended indefinitely amid a probe by the exchange and the regulator for alleged violations that include trading of unissued and unlisted company stock. The halt, since March 4, will last until the infractions are resolved, the bourse said.

While Abra Mining comprised 77% of the market’s daily transactions this year before the suspension, appetite for other smaller and speculative equities that had skyrocketed amid a buying frenzy by individual investors has also been quelled by the trading halt.

“The suspension exposes the risk of speculative stocks,” said Rachelle Cruz, an analyst at AP Securities Inc. “Some investors playing with speculative issues got scared and pulled out their trades.”

From a record 221.23 billion shares on March 3, the market’s volume turnover plunged to 2.69 billion the next day, when the trading halt was imposed. While volume reached 9.13 billion shares on Wednesday, that’s barely a fifth of average 50 billion shares that changed hands daily in the first two months of the year.

Abra Mining, which hasn’t made a profit in at least two decades, surged as much as 279% this year to a peak in January. While the share’s gain has since pared to 59%, trading volume still jumped to a record 215.45 billion on March 3.

The halt caught traders of Abra Mining by surprise. Danilo, an information technology professional, bought the stock expecting it would again soar.

“I hope this suspension ends soon,” said Danilo, who declined to use his full name. The halt is “a heavy squeeze on those who put in a big sum and chased the stock before the suspension. Many investors are trapped.” — Bloomberg

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